Corrosion resistant nickel superalloy coatings laser-clad with a 6 kW high power diode laser (HPDL)

Abstract

A series of exerpiments were performed to investigate the one-step laser cladding of Inconel 625 powder, injected off-axially onto Fe37 and 42CrMo4 substrates. The experiments were carried out using a 6 kW high power diode laser (HPDL) mounted to a 6 axis robot system. The rectangular shape of the delivering beam was focused to a spot size of 22 x 5 mm on the work piece. The coating samples were produced using different levels of powder feed rate (77 - 113 g/min), traveling speed (300 - 400 mm/min) and laser power (4.8 - 6 kW). Hot corrosion resistance of laser-clad Inconel 625 coatings were tested in Na₂SO₄ - V₂O₅ at 650°C for 1000 hours. Wet corrosion properties of the obtained coatings were tested in immersion tests in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution. Diode laser power of 6 kW (808 and 940 nm) was high enough to produce 20 mm wide laser-clad tracks with a thickness of 2.5 mm in a single pass, when powder feed rate was more than 6 kg/h and traverse speed was 400 mm/min. Wet corrosion properties of laser-clad Inconel 625 coatings were found to be superior to sprayed and welded coatings. Hot corrosion resistance was even slightly better than corresponding wrought alloy. Finally, one-step HPDL cladding was demonstrated in coating of shaft for hydraulic cylinder with Inconel 625 powder. Due to high coating quality, high deposition rate and traverse speed HPDL devices are very promising for large area cladding applications.